President Biden's American Rescue Plan Would Reinstate and Expand Federally Mandated Paid Sick and FMLA Leave

On January 20, 2021, President Biden announced the principal points of his American Rescue Plan (the Plan), a new COVID-19 relief package that would revive the federal mandate on employers to provide paid sick and paid FMLA leave for certain COVID-19-related absences. On February 1, 2021, Republican lawmakers responded with a competing relief package that does not include those paid leave mandates. As of now, neither side has released a draft of the actual proposed legislation. Much of what we know comes from the announcement released by the Biden administration and a chart from Republican Senators. More ›

Hinshaw's 12 Days of California Labor & Employment Series – Day 10: COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Expanded to All Employers

In the spirit of the season—and keeping some semblance of normal—we are using our annual "12 days of the holidays" blog series to address new California laws and their impact on California employers. On this tenth day of the holidays, my labor and employment attorney gave to me: ten lords a-leaping and AB 1867.

AB 1867 fills a void that was left by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) regarding paid sick leave. The FFCRA was enacted to provide federal paid sick leave and expanded family leave due to the pandemic, but it only applied to employers with less than 500 employees. In response, California enacted a supplemental COVID-19 paid sick leave law through AB 1867. Applicable to businesses with 500 or more employees nationally, AB 1867 in essence guarantees that any employee—regardless of the size of the employer—will receive paid sick leave if needed due to COVID-19. More ›

Federal Court in New York Strikes Down Key Provisions of DOL's FFCRA Final Rule

In State of New York v. United States Department of Labor, the Southern District of New York struck down several key aspects of the Department of Labor's (DOL) Final Rule implementing the provisions of Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Brought by the State of New York, this suit challenged several features of the DOL's Final Rule as exceeding the DOL's authority. The DOL cross-filed for summary judgment and moved to dismiss for lack of standing. More ›